Key Points:
- Repeated Claim: Donald Trump asserted again that he stopped the India-Pakistan conflict, claiming he ended “eight wars” in total.
- Nobel Ambition: Trump stated he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for each resolved conflict, citing praise from this year’s laureate Maria Corina Machado.
- Conflict Context: The May 2025 conflict, dubbed “Operation Sindoor,” reportedly escalated after a terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 civilians.
- India’s Denial: India has consistently denied US mediation, maintaining that the ceasefire was a bilateral decision.
- Tariff Threat: Trump claimed he used threats of heavy trade tariffs (up to 50%) to force both nations to the negotiating table.
US President Donald Trump has reiterated his controversial claim that his administration successfully halted a military conflict between India and Pakistan, using a Tuesday cabinet meeting to boast about his diplomatic track record. Referring to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Trump stated, “We ended eight wars… but now there’s one more left. I hope we can end this one too,” positioning himself as a central figure in global peace efforts.
Expressing frustration over the lack of recognition, Trump remarked, “Every time I end a war, they say, ‘I’ll get the Nobel Prize because I ended this one.’… I should receive the Nobel Prize for every war, but I don’t want to be greedy”. He further claimed that Venezuelan activist Maria Corina Machado-Perisca, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, publicly agreed that he deserved the award for his interventions.
“Operation Sindoor” and the May 2025 Conflict
The conflict in question refers to “Operation Sindoor,” a tri-service strike launched by India on May 7, 2025, targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The military action was a direct retaliation for a brutal terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, which resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists. Trump described the situation as perilous, claiming, “India was going to have a nuclear war with Pakistan… if Donald Trump didn’t get involved, many millions of people would have been dead”.
Claims of “Tariff Diplomacy” vs. India’s Denial
Trump has consistently asserted more than 60 times since May 10, 2025, that his threat of severe economic sanctions forced New Delhi and Islamabad to de-escalate. He detailed that he imposed a 25% tariff on India and a 19% tariff on Pakistan, later threatening to hike India’s penalty to 50% due to its purchase of Russian oil and BRICS participation. “I said, ‘I’m not going to make any trade deals with you guys unless you agree to peace,'” Trump recounted, claiming this pressure led to the ceasefire the very next day.
However, the Indian government has firmly rejected these assertions of third-party mediation. New Delhi maintains that the ceasefire understanding was reached through direct bilateral communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both nations, independent of US interference.
Ongoing Narrative and Political Reactions
Trump’s narrative has remained consistent in recent months. On November 18, during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he expressed pride in “preventing those eight wars”. Political fallout has also reached India, with opposition leaders like Jairam Ramesh noting the frequency of Trump’s claims to question the Indian government’s official stance on the sovereignty of its foreign policy decisions.
